


To See How It's Faded

by Leonawriter



Series: FF7 minifics [8]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Inspired by Music, Tumblr Flash Fic, good end timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 19:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14678205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: The war is over, Shinra's hierarchy turned on its head, and Genesis walks through Midgar for the first time since his desertion as someone with a right to be there. It's a lot stranger than he ever thought it would be, if he'd ever thought of it at all.





	To See How It's Faded

The strangest thing about walking through Midgar in a world after degradation and Hollander and Hojo and the President wasn’t the fact that he was there at all, Genesis mused to himself while following Sephiroth, who was talking to Angeal, both of them clearly tense.

No, it was the fact that he was here and no one was trying to kill him. They had the last time he’d been here, after all - although, at that point, he would just as quickly have returned the favour, and with a vengeance at that.

And now - nothing. Not a sign of movement from the army, and although some of the SOLDIERs he passed were justifiably _wary_  of him, there was notably no order made to halt their progress.

A few of the walls were scorched. Some of the houses and shops had bullet holes in them, repaired but badly masked. 

That was the bakery he’d found had made the best pastries, right there - he’d gone there several times specifically because for celebratory reasons, for promotions, for his birthday.

That was the bookshop he’d spent hours of his free time in, pouring over books in search of details only he cared about, and getting into deep conversation with the owner.

That there was the alley where he’d kissed his first girlfriend, who had only lasted a few weeks because neither had really been suited to the other, and she had been more interested in actual theatre cast and crew, rather than one who had merely _dreamed_  of being on stage once, and had instead opted for a life more dedicated to becoming the very heroes that others could only pretend to be.

Genesis steals a glance over at Angeal, a smile playing about his mouth and his eyes growing soft as he remembers how Angeal had been the one to console his teenaged self when he had been unable to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred.

The Shinra building loomed over their heads, and this time the three of them were approaching not as naive children, not as enemies, but as SOLDIERs who would no longer be used as tools of war 

So little had changed, it seemed. It was enough to make him hesitate, his shoulder itching to let his wing out and simply fly far away, to safety and security and back to when things made more sense, but Angeal was there with the Buster Sword on his back, and Sephiroth had said _if he turns out like his father, then we can simply remind him of how he attained his new position, or we kill him,_ and that was enough to feel less like a dog returning to its master with its tail between its legs.

Shinra would soon find out that their precious lapdogs had wolf stock in them, with sharp teeth and claws.

A Turk with red hair and an EM rod slung over one shoulder gave them a measuring look, before telling them that the President was waiting for them, along with Lazard.

The inside of the Shinra building hadn’t changed much in the months - no, well over a year, now - that he had been gone.

Genesis found himself wishing that it had. Knowing that things were supposed to have changed wasn’t nearly enough, and every sight and every sound was far too familiar, the halls the same as when he’d walked them every day, the smell of the bad coffee the same as the way it had been before, and he was just as disgusted by it now as he had been then.

As if he’d never left - if it weren’t for the few slight differences, which made all the difference in the world.

_We’ll do this with honour,_ Angeal had said, _without letting go of our dreams. Or we won’t serve them again at all._ He had been exhausted at the time, still recovering from his healing, and he sometimes wondered if they knew how important those words even were.

**Author's Note:**

> Every so often I hear 'Everything Stays' from Adventure Time and that song just gets me in the feels for whatever I'm into at the time. That plus my love of 'these three idiots actually communicating and turning on the right people rather than each other' created this.


End file.
